For a long time, some of the biggest names in tech have been trying to market tablets as laptop replacements. However, before 2014, technology was a long way behind making that a reality. The iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro, which came out in early 2013, were the first tablets to attempt to put it up to laptops. But in reality, these devices were too underpowered, riddled with issues, and seriously let down by battery life.
Fast forward to today and tablets can do practically everything that laptops can do, except they are cheaper and a lot more portable.
Like laptops before them, tablets are starting to become devices for a more serious computing and gaming crowd, with operating systems better suited to office-type work and gaming titles being released like Divinity Original Sin 2 and a highly popular Call of Duty: Mobile.
Now that the idea of what a portable computer is is shifting once again, we’ve put together 22 reasons to get a tablet instead of a laptop.
Table of Contents
Tablets are Getting Insanely Powerful
Part of the reason that tablets are making a serious run at laptops is the insane amount of processing power that the newest generation of tablets is bringing to the table.
Take Apple’s M1 chip, for instance. The M1 chips are used in Apple’s latest laptops, however, it’s also in their newest generation iPad Pro and the iPad Air.
While it’s difficult to make a direct comparison of a chip as it functions in a tablet format and a one that’s in a laptop, there are still discernable factors that can be derived from a side-by-side view of the Apple iPad’s M1 chip and Intel’s 11th generation i7 processor.
| Apple M1 Chip | Intel Core i7 11th Gen | |
| GPU | 8-Core w/2.6 teraflops of throughput | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| CPU | 8-Core CPU | Quad-core i7 Processor |
| Frequency | 3.20 GHz | 2.30GHz |
| Execution Units | 128 | 24 |
| SSD | 2TB SSD | 4TB SSD |
| Benchmark Single-Core | 1687 | 1421 |
| Benchmark Multi-Core | 7433 | 4768 |
| NM Process | 5nm | 14nm |
The overall result of benchmark tests places the M1 just below the intel core i9 11900k at 3.50GHz.
Even the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 runs with a 3rd generation intel core i5 processor.
Tablets Have Operating Systems Designed for Desktop-Type Use
While many tablets settle for mobile operating systems that are optimized for running on a bigger screen, there are also just as many that run on operating systems that are very similar to the desktop. Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets run Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Samsung’s most powerful tablets also allow you to switch back and forth between tablet and PC modes when you want to use your tablet as a laptop.
Apple’s Safari is very similar to what you will find on a macOS, with some refinements for a smaller screen and touch controls. The interface is generally suited for those who spend a lot of time on smartphones.
With that being said, the OS on these devices allows you to run most of the same things that you do on a desktop. Both Android tablets and iOS tablets have a quick swap feature with their proprietary names.
Keyboard Cases are as Good as Laptop Keyboards
It’s rare to find a laptop that comes with a mechanical keyboard, which is arguably the best choice for keyboards period. This means that ordering a keyboard case for your tablet will provide you with an equal or sometimes even improved keyboard over anything you can find on a laptop.
Because of the nature of a tablet, you’re stuck with either using the virtual keyboard or one of your own through a Bluetooth connection. The best part is, that while a laptop keyboard is married to the screen, your choices in tablet keyboards are almost limitless and you can detach it at any time to use your tablet as a tablet.
If a mechanical keyboard is your thing, you can get one. Most people prefer to grab a case with a built-in keyboard (not mechanical in those applications) but you can certainly purchase a case that carries both your tablet and a mechanical keyboard.
The point is, when it comes to tablets, your choice in keyboards and other peripherals is fairly broad.
Tablets with Detachable Keyboards Offer 2-in-1 Functionality
Technology has expanded to the point where you can purchase tablets that come with detachable keyboards or you can purchase a separate keyboard that is designed to attach to your tablet.
Many of these keyboards allow you to get 2-in-1 functionality out of your tablet. That means you can quickly fold the keyboard over and switch it from laptop to tablet mode.
You can also use it in tent mode to watch a movie on a bus or any other tight space.
If you just want to play mobile games on your tablet, simply flip over the keyboard and go chill out somewhere with your favorite game. When you’re ready to go back to work or head off to school, snap your keyboard back on or just flip it back over into laptop mode.
There are also 2-in-1 style laptops that can do the same but laptop operating systems rarely handle the device being used as a tablet very well, often resulting in a very clunky and unresponsive experience.
The options are seemingly limitless with a tablet and it always feels like you have a greater degree of choice and portability, especially once you start buying a few peripherals to make your work, school, or home life a little more fun and exciting.
They are Lighter and More Portable Than Laptops
A tablet and keyboard case can be folded away to occupy about the same amount of space in a bag as a small book. Likewise, it’s much easier to use a tablet in cramped spaces like on public transport or in tight corners in cafes.
If space is really tight, you can flip it over or detach the keyboard to use only the tablet. If you have a small flat surface and want to watch a video, you can use your tablet in tent mode and if you have enough room, you can use your tablet as a laptop.
Since we’re on the subject of portability, there’s no arguing that even Apple’s gigantic iPad Pro variant is a lot more portable than even some of your small-end laptops.
Throw in the fact that it can handle many of your favorite mobile games, including AAA titles like Divinity Original Sin 2, and you have plenty of reasons to stick with a premium tablet.
Of course, you’re not going to find the number of AAA games on a tablet that you will on a gaming laptop, but there’s no denying the size differences. Because there is a huge argument to make in favor of tablets running AAA games, that might not be an issue in the future either.
Tablets own the new portability crown and seeing the pure working and gaming concepts starting to trickle down into tablets now, it’s enough to make laptops feel like they are pending an obsolete status.
Tablets are More Affordable
For the most part, tablets are more affordable than laptops, especially if you are just looking for a streaming device that can also browse the internet. Sure, more premium tablets are going to be higher than some of your low-end laptops, but that’s not surprising.
And because of their lightweight operating systems, even cheaper, low-powered tablets are speedy when it comes to using them for light design, school, or office-type work.
The reality is, an Alienware or Razer Laptop is still going to cost you thousands when the very best tablet on the market is going to be nowhere near that price.
They Come with Cellular Connectivity
This might not have made much of a difference a few years ago, but with the industry standard rapidly approaching 5G, having cellular connectivity is a bigger deal than it’s ever been before.
The times when you had to enable your smartphone’s WiFi hotspot just so you could have internet access with your laptop on the go are nearly over. Pretty soon, 5G tablets are going to far exceed laptops in portability.
It’s as simple as turning your tablet on and accessing the internet, whereas a laptop takes unfolding, positioning, and connecting to a MiFi before you can do anything. Not to mention wireless hotspots are notoriously slow and public WiFi networks can be few and far between.
If you are on the move, then locating WiFi is your constant concern.
With a tablet, on the other hand, it’s instant, especially if you have a tablet with cellular data.
Tablets Wake from Sleep More Instantly
There’s a lot to be said about simply picking up a large tablet, pressing the power button, and you’re instantly ready to go. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with laptops. No matter how much tech they cram inside one, it takes an age to get it up and going.
Laptops, like desktops, have to go through their process just to get to the home screen.
If you’re multitasking with your tablet for study or work and waking up the device to do something once every couple of minutes, its instant wake from sleep functionality will save you time and make you more productive.
Related Article: Top 20 Reasons To Use A Large OLED TV As Your Next Computer Monitor
Tablets are Great for Reading eBooks
If you’ve ever witnessed someone reading an eBook on a laptop screen in landscape, congratulations, you belong to a rare group of people, probably as rare as those who claimed to have seen bigfoot. Nobody reads books on laptops because of course they are easier to read on tablets.
Not only are tablets the perfect medium for eBook reading, but they’re also basically the right size for what you would expect to get out of a small or large hardback, depending on the book and the tablet.
Plus, tablets are the natural target for eReader platforms like Kindle and Apple Books.
They simply make the most sense. So those eReaders are specifically designed for use in mobile applications with tablets being the pinnacle.
Tablets are Less Noisy than Laptops
Tablets channel away heat from the internal components through convection, with the bezel and frame of the tablet radiating away as much heat as possible. Of course, this is why tablets can sometimes feel hot.
But thanks to their lightweight components and operating systems, even powerful tablets don’t generate as much heat as laptops and that means there’s no need for a noisy fan to be constantly blaring.
Speaking of playing AAA titles and such, there may come a time when tablets have to come up with a new technology to manage heat levels, and perhaps, that’s why you don’t see a full-scale embrace of tablets and smartphones when it comes to AAA titles.
One thing is for certain, the heat management in tablets makes them a lot quieter than laptops, which use loud fans to channel heat away through their various ventilation ports.
Tablets are Better than Laptops for Meetings and Presentations
Not only are tablets better than laptops for meetings and presentations, but they are also equal or better in terms of the applications you would use for a presentation. Of course, the Surface Pro is going to have your traditional PowerPoint but a lack of PowerPoint on Android and iOS shouldn’t dissuade you.
There’s Visme, Google Slides, Canva, Venngage, Slidebeam, MightyMeeting, and so many more. You can find the perfect app to both develop your presentation and have the highest degree of creative freedom software can provide.
When you throw in a mini projector that is small enough to fit in a work bag and powerful enough to provide everyone with a beautiful presentation, you have the perfect hardware for portability and presentations.
They Consume Less Power
Laptops average around 30 to 70 watts while tablets drop down into the neighborhood of 15 to 30 watts. Not only do tablets consume less power than laptops, but the way we use them naturally conserves power.
For instance, if you get up to take a quick break from your laptop, you leave it sitting there, almost always on. Since it takes laptops so much longer to cycle back up, it’s a natural decision to just leave the thing running.
With a tablet, it’s nothing to hit the power button or set the sleep time for 30 seconds. If you get up to take a break we’re almost programmed to hit the power button first.
Laptops also have a lot more to run, especially when it comes to keeping everything cool. Running a fan consumes a lot of battery. If you add on any peripherals that plug into a USB port, that’s even more power sucked away.
Tablets don’t have peripherals that connect and leech off of the battery. Everything is Bluetooth or it doesn’t connect at all, with a limited number of exceptions.
Tablets Are Great for Taking Notes and Drawing
Tablets have some of the best note and drawing apps available, especially when you dive into the Apple Pencil 2 and Procreate. Graphics design is a potent industry, especially with the rise of NFTs and cryptocurrency.
There are great options for Android and Microsoft too with pencils like the Samsung S Pen, and Surface Pen, and apps like Adobe Illustrator Draw, ArtFlow, Autodesk SketchBook, Evernote, and OneNote.
Suddenly, it seems that everyone wants to draw with the latest wireless pencil and some of the best drawing and graphics design apps available. Note-taking is a cinch with tablets, especially with Siri and Google voice reminders.
Tablets are Easier to Use in Tight Spaces
If you do a lot of commuting, the advantage of a tablet is phenomenal. You don’t have to scrunch in, flip open a laptop, and get it arranged to the perfect angle on your lap.
With a tablet, you just turn it on, angle it for privacy, and go.
Even at home, when the whole family decides to sit on the sofa only when you happen to occupy it, you will have more room to operate with a tablet than you will with a laptop.
Tablets are Better for Media Consumption
Tablets were arguably created with the modern-day streamer in mind. This is especially true with some of the more recent tablets.
It’s far cheaper to make a 10” OLED screen than it is to make a 75” one and it’s a heck of an incentive for those who want to stream in 4k and 8k but can’t afford an LG TV without selling their kidney on the black market.
Tablets sound pretty good too, especially iPads, whose sound is deep and rich and can somehow fill an entire room.
Tablets are easy, intuitive, streamlined, and typically have great resolution for streaming content.
They Make Web Browsing Easy
Just like streaming, Android, Apple, and Microsoft know their business and have designed their devices, web browsers, and operating systems for ease of use.
A tablet provides an excellent web browsing experience. It retains all the ease of use of a mobile operating system with a touchscreen while having a larger display for a better viewing experience.
It’s not only easy to browse through the web but multitasking so you can watch a YouTube video while you look up information associated with the YouTube video is easier than ever. It’s a whole lot less convoluted than attempting the same on a laptop.
They Don’t Crash as Often
It’s essentially a ratio. When it comes to laptops, there are a higher number of software programs which equals a higher probability of crashes, freezes, or errors.
Operating systems like Windows contain millions of lines of code and are incredibly complex compared to mobile operating systems like Android. The more lines of code there are the higher the probability of errors and crashes occurring.
Operating systems like Windows are also highly customizable, with many users using third-party software that interacts with Windows, installs drivers, and makes changes to settings. This can often make the OS unstable.
Tablets are quite a bit more streamlined, with nowhere near as much going on in the background and without all of the preinstalled software.
Tablets Have More Options for Touchscreens and Digital Pens
Being designed as purely touchscreen devices, it makes sense that apps and the best digital pen tech and software would place tablets as their primary focus.
While laptops have graphic design software and peripherals that are nothing to joke about, tablets own this medium, especially high-powered tablets like the Surface Pro line and iPad Pros.
You Can Game on Mobile or with a Keyboard and Mouse
With a tablet you can use the touchscreen in portrait mode to play thousands of free games from app stores.
It’s also not too difficult to stream PC games to your tablet and play with a mouse and keyboard.
While most hardcore gamers mostly scoff at the idea of touch controls, a whole generation of new, younger gamers has mastered them. However, tablets aren’t a one-trick-pony where controls are concerned and there are a whole host of gaming peripherals out there to give you an edge.
A gaming mouse and keyboard are not a problem on tablets and they can handle them just fine. If they would just figure out a way to start landing more of those AAA titles, tablets as gaming platforms will explode.
It’s Easier to Capture Video and Take Pictures with a Tablet
While tablets haven’t fully embraced the photography side of technology like smartphones have (it seems like each new smartphone is a gigantic photography machine these days) they are still plenty capable.
It just gives people another reason to appreciate the portable power and versatility of a tablet.
Some of the newer and more premium tablets offer cameras that are pretty exceptional as well.
The iPad Pro for example has a 12MP wide camera on the front and a 10MP ultra-wide rear camera that can take some pretty nice pictures and will let you capture video in 4K resolution at up to 60fps, and Full HD video at up to 240fps.
Tablets Usually Have Longer Battery Lives than Laptops
As mentioned above, laptops have a lot more going on that requires power than a tablet, especially when you include the keyboard, RGB lighting, cooling fans, and how people use laptops in comparison to tablets.
Even though tablets generally have much smaller batteries, the level of power consumption is radically reduced in a tablet versus a laptop.
According to manufacturers, the average laptop will last you around 6 hours, compared to the average tablet, which will get you just under 10 hours.
They Charge Up Faster
For the same reasons that tablets last longer than laptops, they also charge faster. Tablets, not only have a smaller battery with less capacity, they have less going on when you are charging them, even if they are currently in use.
You can power down a laptop completely and it will still take longer to charge to 100% than a tablet will that is currently being used for streaming or online gaming.
